Current Affairs Quiz-September, 2020

Notes:
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a Conclave on “School Education in 21st Century” today through video conference.
This video conference was held on the background of National Education Policy 2020, as a part of the Shiksha Parv initiative. The Prime Minister also announced that School students will have new curriculum framework by 2022.

Notes:
A fish brood bank is set to be established at Sitamarhi (Bihar) and aquatic disease referral laboratory is proposed to set up at Kishanganj (Bihar) as a part of the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY).
These facilities will enhance production of fish by ensuring timely availability of quality and affordable fish seed.

Notes:
Veteran Social activist and former Haryana MLA Swami Agnivesh has recently passed away in Delhi, after he was suffering from liver cirrhosis.
Swami Agnivesh was considered as a revolutionary leader of Arya Samaj and had led a campaign against bonded labour and female foeticide. He was also an advocate for the dialogue between religions.

Notes:
Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi has recently dedicated three petroleum projects at Bihar to the nation.
Indian Oil’s 193 km long Durgapur-Banka section of the Paradip-Haldia-Durgapur LPG pipeline, Indian Oil’s Cooking gas bottling plant at Banka and HPCL’s LPG bottling plant at Harsidh are the three projects at Bihar which have been inaugurated by the Prime Minister.

Notes:
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment of Sameer Kumar Khare as new Executive Director of Asian Development Bank (ADB).
The veteran bureaucrat has been appointed to the post for a tenure of three years. Sameer Kumar is a 1989-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer. He is currently serving as Additional Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs under Ministry of Finance.

Notes:
The procurement of Rice for the Kharif Crop Season of year 2020-21 is estimated at 495.37 lakh tonnes.
This estimate has been made by the Ministry of Food and Public Distribution. This estimate is 19.07 % more than the procurement estimates for 2019-20 marketing season. The actual procurement of rice in 2019-20 was the highest at 420.22 lakh tones.

Notes:
The World Trade Organization (WTO) has ruled that tariff barriers (additional tariffs) imposed by USA in 2018 on Chinese goods is inconsistent with international trading norms.
This has come as a severe blow to the US administration. The ruling was pronounced by a 3-member panel of WTO, against the USD 200 billion in levies imposed by USA on a range of Chinese goods in 2018.

Notes:
The United States of America issued a new advisory warning against travel to China and Hong Kong. US authorities have cited risk of “arbitrary detention” and “arbitrary enforcement of local laws.”
The advisory states that U.S. citizens traveling or residing in China or Hong Kong, may be detained without access to U.S. consular services. The advisory has also stated that, U.S. citizens may be subjected to prolonged interrogations and extended detention.

Notes:
The Environment Ministerial Meeting of the G20 countries was conducted under the Presidency of Saudi Arabia. The meeting was held in a virtual mode.
India was represented by Union Environment Minister, Prakash Javadekar. The meeting focused on various social and economic issues such as anti-corruption, climate, agriculture, digital economy, education etc.

Notes:
As per the recent statement of the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, the government has set a target to increase the number of PMBJKs to 10,500 by March 2025.
The Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Kendras (PMBJK) were launched with an aim to provide quality medicines at affordable rates to common citizens. At present, there were just over 6000 Kendras across the country.